Breathing and loving you
by KissMeQuack
Summary: If I had to choose between breathing and loving you, I would use my last breath to say 'I love you'. M!ImpAgentxWatcher/Keeper


Cipher strode slowly but powerfully away from the form of the defeated Sith Lord Jadus who now trapped within his own force field that was acting as an impromptu jail.  
Although his walk seemed to exude power and confidence, internally the Agent was crumbling and a mere twenty yards from the Sith Lord, barely halfway across the bridge of the Imperial ship, his body gave out.  
The Cipher Agent fell suddenly to the floor, landing roughly on his hands and knees, just barely managing to catch himself.  
He had put up a strong front, he always did, but the pain and injury was too much, and the Agent was no longer able to keep up the charade of true victory.  
"Agent!" Vector, who had assisted the Agent in his operation against Jadus, cried out in alarm, watching his superior fall to the floor.  
He had never seen Cipher 9 fall, not even trip, and it filled him with an intense fear that resonated through the Killik Hive mind. The Agent had bore the brunt of Jadus' fury and attacks and while the Agent withstood Force attacks better than many the Hive had been witness to, he was only human, and, unlike Vector, did not have the advantageous healing of Killik joiners.  
Vector rushed to the side of his ally but the Agent raised a hand, a sign that halted the Dawn Herald.  
"Protect Watcher..." he commanded with a growl to his voice that came when a command wasn't just a direction between friends but an absolute order.  
Despite the tone, Vector hesitated,  
"But your wounds-"  
The fight had been bloody, and while the Agent usually gained one or two skin deep injuries, this time, he had been thrown around like a ragdoll and the wear was showing. Blood dripped from the Agents torso, now obvious since it was falling freely to the floor rather than seeping slowly into the Agents clothing. One wrist, the one supporting him, was horribly swollen and a strange purple-white that as far as the Hive knew, was not a normal Human colouration. Vector could only wonder what other injuries were hidden by the Agents clothing, what damage may be raging inside the soft Human flesh.  
The blonde haired human shifted his head to stare at Vector. There was a hard look to his features but his eyes were scared. Not for himself, the Killik convert mused, but for the woman. Vector had observed their relationship closely and with great curiosity. The experience of the Hive mind told him the truth of the small nuances in their interactions. Their intimacy had blossomed from a casual attraction to a rare and true form of love although neither seemed willing to admit it within the harsh reality that was the Empire. How could they?  
The cold and commanding Watcher could never be timid or tender or concerned. The ruthless and mocking Agent would never be earnest or gentle or submissive.  
"There may be some crew still on the ship. Please! Make sure she is fine!"  
Yet there it was.  
The desperation was laced deep in his voice.  
The pleading was full within his eyes.  
He cared enough to beg. He cared enough to be honest. He cared enough to care.  
Vector stood for a moment, his thoughts returning to the matter at hand rather than his superiors' relationship.  
The Agent was correct, the Hive spoke, to place the woman's survival before his own, despite his bias. There was more value to protecting the life of the Watcher than the man.  
Still, a little part of Vector that survived beyond the reach of the Hive mind, despaired to abandon the side of a man he respected so much.  
But he relented to logic and his friend's request.  
"Very well."  
Vector nodded solemnly before making his exit, running off to find the woman he was entrusted with.

After watching his companions swift but reluctant exit, Cipher managed to pull himself back to his feet, albeit crudely.  
Slowly, he managed to inch his way over to a control panel just a few feet to his side.  
Collapsing once more, this time in a controlled manner, he slid slowly down the panel, coming to rest at its base with his back against it.  
The short crackle of static coming from the secret comm unit told him his Watcher was back, her focus returning to him.  
"Cipher!" she called out, her voice thick and emotional "Cipher!"  
He could hear the tears in her voice, it pained him to imagine his beautiful Watcher crying.  
"Here." He replied in between shallow breaths.  
"I can't believe you took him on! You should have ran!" Her voice was nothing like the calm, cool one she used within the Imperial Intelligence Headquarters. Even when she had communicated with him during missions and he had been in threat of a clear and present danger, her voice was measured and controlled.  
Here, now, it was panicked.  
The Agent had no doubt she could see the images he was seeing as his eyes moved over the bloodstained image of his broken body before him.  
He looked away immediately.  
"How could you do that? I know you hate the Sith but you should have ran!" Her voice broke towards the end as long supressed sobs overcame her.  
Her heartbreaking cries continued but the Cipher Agent couldn't listen.  
His limbs tingled numbly as though his body began to detach from his senses.  
His eyes were unfocused, darkness creeping in, and each time his eyes closed, it was harder to open them again.  
Cipher closed his eyes but this time, they would not open. He could not find it in himself to open them once more.  
He tried to slow his breathing, taking back some measure of control and sense of self but with every inhale he heard a rattle in his chest, telling him what he knew instinctively.  
Cipher was dying.  
He focused himself, steeling his resolve as best he could.  
He took a slow, deep breath.  
"Don't watch." he spoke gently, cutting off his Watcher and her outpouring of emotions.  
His hand raised slowly, using the last of his energy to act for her, to give his Watcher one tiny comfort in all this.  
It was a heavy second of silence before she spoke,  
"Don't watch what?" she asked quietly, her voice full of trepidation. His hand reached the implant and he paused, taking a rasping breath. "Cipher? Cipher, don't watch what? Cipher! Fionnvh-"  
He cut off her panicked words as he removed the Comm unit.  
He wanted to hear her voice.  
He wanted some feeling of being close to her.  
But he couldn't do that to her.  
Not to his Watcher.  
Fionnvharr let his bloodied arm fall to his side, the comm unit rolling slightly away. He could feel himself swaying, his closed eyes unable to confirm whether it was him or the ship. As his breaths grew faint, his body slumped fully to the floor.  
Darkness overcame his mind but, just before it claimed him entirely, his body made one tiny, unconscious action.  
Fionnvharr smiled slightly to himself.  
She knew his name.

It is IMPOSSIBLE to edit on this thing!

Before you get all 'omg, he dead!', he lives. Read my other story Identity.

Please review, Im interested as to what people think about this one. I have some thoughts myself but posting them would be a little egotistical :3It


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